Targeting Oncogene Addiction for Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Oncogene addiction, a term first coined by Bernard Weinstein in 2000, refers to a condition where a tumor cell, despite harboring a multitude of genetic alterations, depends on a single oncogenic pathway or oncoprotein for sustained proliferation and survival. Several lines of evidence from mammalian cell culture models, genetically modified mice models, and human intervention trials of targeted drugs have revealed that many tumors, if not all, rely on oncogene addiction for sustained proliferation and survival. Oncogene addiction strongly impacts the therapeutic response of tumors to acute oncoprotein inhibition. An important implication of oncogene addiction is that inhibiting this critical pathway, on which cancer cells become dependent, can cause selective and specific cell death in cancer cells while sparing normal surrounding cells that are not oncogene addicted. However, the mechanism by which cancer cells become dependent on a single pathway or activated oncoprotein is not precisely understood in most cases. Thus, a better understanding of oncogene addiction may provide a rationale for improving current cancer therapies and help develop novel therapeutic strategies for the management of cancer.